Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello Doesn't Get Why Paul Ryan Likes His Music

Mitt Romney’s new running mate Paul Ryan might be a fan of Rage Against The Machine, but not surprisingly, the band’s outspoken guitar player Tom Morello doesn’t share the love. The well-educated activist took fingers to keyboard yesterday to condemn the policies of the politician he considers a “extreme fringe right wing nut job”, and not surprisingly, his words have set off a lively debate about whether one needs to be on board with a musician’s politics to properly appreciate his or her music.

The op-ed was published in Rolling Stone, and it reads like a vicious middle finger. It accuses Ryan of displaying a rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against gays and a rage against the poor. Here’s how it concludes…

” My hope is that maybe Paul Ryan is a mole. Maybe Rage did plant some sensible ideas in this extreme fringe right wing nut job. Maybe if elected, he'll pardon Leonard Peltier. Maybe he'll throw U.S. military support behind the Zapatistas. Maybe he'll fill Guantanamo Bay with the corporate criminals that are funding his campaign – and then torture them with Rage music 24/7. That's one possibility. But I'm not betting on it.”

It might be funny to think about Congressman Ryan rocking out to such an aggressively liberal band, but he’s far from the only one who seems to tune out Rage’s politics. I saw the group a few years back at Lollapalooza. Lead singer Zack de la Rocha asked for cities to be burned as a means to overthrow the government, and at least ninety percent of the audience cheered. I can guarantee ninety percent of the crowd didn’t really want to see Chicago burn to the ground.

I would be shocked if Congressman Ryan responds, but if he does, we'll bring it to you.